It was one and done for the Cincinnati Reds with the emphasis on the done.

It wasn’t just the fact that the Reds lost to the Pittsburgh Pirates in the wild-card game on Tuesday as much as how flat and lifeless they looked in doing so. They simply at no point were ever in the game.

Against the Pirates they were out-hit, out-pitched and in the field committed one official error but booted the ball on two other occasions.

With their season on the line, was that the best they could offer up?

Coupled with their shocking departure from the division round last season where the won the first two games in San Francisco and then came home only to be swept in three games by the Giants, you have to ask just what’s wrong with this Reds team that has so much talent but doesn’t seem capable of taking it to the next level.

It certainly wasn’t the way that manager Dusty Baker envisioned his team to bow out.

“It’s very difficult because it’s like, I don’t know, unbelievable actually,” Baker said following the 6-2 loss to the Pirates. “Our club has been through a lot of things on and off the field. Our club has stuck together. We realize I guess now we still got some more work to go. We got some improvements, you know, to make.

“I don’t know, it’s very difficult to come down to one game, especially the way we played. We got out‑played big‑time.”

And that’s the point.

The Reds now seem to have morphed into the Atlanta Braves of old, a team that would win its division year after year but fall short in the post-season time after time. With the loss, the Reds have lost four consecutive post-season games and 11 of its last 13. It’s a disturbing trend.

“Having good seasons and winning in the regular season’s all fine and dandy but you play to win championships and we haven’t been able to get it done,” outfielder Jay Bruce said. “We have to figure out a way to do a better job.”

Among the mea culpas after the game no player was harder on himself than second baseman Brandon Phillips who was 0-for-4 overall and 0-for-2 with runners in scoring position. He also was charged with the Reds lone error, dropping a double-play grounder that allowed a run to score.

“I choked,” he said “I didn’t do nothin’. Didn’t do nothin’ to make the team better. Didn’t get any hits; didn’t get any RBI. Didn’t do nothin’.

“I feel like we let the city down. I feel like I lost this game. I was up there with opportunities… The city of Cincinnati deserves better.”

Maybe it does, maybe it doesn’t but on this Reds team, a perennial powerhouse, there’s no October mojo.

Almost Done!

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